Youth Friendship and Conflict in Schools

Friendship is an important form of social glue that bonds and ties individuals together in supportive and fulfilling solidarities. These intimate and ongoing relationships are founded on continuing interaction, the shared disclosure of beliefs and emotions, leading to strong feelings of connection, shared identity, and belonging. Friendships are key aspects of the social world at all stages of the life course. Historically, sociological research about young people's friendships and personal relationships, along with work in psychology and human development, has focused on two distinct perspectives.

In the first, children's friendships are viewed as proto-social rehearsals for relationships in adult life, while in the second there is an emphasis on “adolescent turmoil” and the social and emotional problems that stem from peer relationships in childhood and the ...